What's Wrong?
by smilelaughread
Summary: Living with someone has its pros and its cons, but something pushes Remus to the point where he wants to leave. What happened, and how does Sirius make it all better? 8/50 for the OTP Boot Camp Challenge. Also written for week seven of the 52 Weeks of Writing Competition at HPFC.


_Vicious – 8/50 for the OTP Boot Camp Challenge at HPFC._

_Also written for week seven of the 52 Weeks of Writing Competition at HPFC with the prompts: 'What is the point?', 'You said everything was going to be okay!', socks, blood, solutions, and rain._

* * *

"What is the point?" Remus shouted, pointing one long finger at Sirius. Sirius' hands went up in the international 'what-did-I-do?' sign, but he stayed silent. "What is the point?"

Remus' wide eyes were the only things Sirius could see for a few moments, and then Remus turned and began walking hurriedly toward their shared bedroom. Sirius, perplexed, followed him.

"What are you doing?" Sirius finally asked, pushing the door aside when Remus made to slam it.

Remus didn't answer; instead he opened two or three drawers and began to rifle through them. Then, with a viciousness that was usually reserved for the nights he spent as a wolf, he began to pull all of his shirts out. They were flung haphazardly over his shoulder and Sirius looked on in something like amusement, though his heart began to pound a little.

"Moony," Sirius said, placing one hand on Remus' shoulder. "What's going on?"

Remus shrugged his hand off sharply and then sniffled.

"Moony—Remus!" Sirius was worried, then, so he ran around behind Remus, trying to pick up all the shirts that Remus was throwing around. "Hey!"

Remus finally seemed to hear Sirius—or maybe the hysteria in his voice had reached important enough heights—and he turned red-rimmed eyes to Sirius. "What do you want from me?"

Sirius, heart hammering and mind racing, palms sweaty and arms full of things that smelled of Remus, tried to think. It was hard to do that when Remus was as close to tears as Sirius had seen him in recent years. "I—Tell me what's wrong," he finally said.

"What do you mean, 'what's wrong'?" Remus' voice hitched on the last word, and Sirius dropped everything to move toward Remus.

"I just want you to tell me what's bothering you."

"What's bothering me? You want me to tell you what's bothering me? It's past midnight, Padfoot. I can't take this anymore, this separation. You said everything was going to be okay once we moved in. You said… you promised…"

Right before Sirius' eyes, Remus seemed to crumple in on himself, falling with a thud to the ground. His head lolled back and hit the corner of an open drawer, but Sirius hardly noticed. He crouched down beside Remus. "Don't you think everything is better now that we live together? I thought things were going so well…"

"Do you know what the weather has been like for the last few days?"

Sirius couldn't see the relation between their conversation and the weather, but indulged Remus by asking, "No, tell me."

"See!" The screech made Sirius flinch. "You spend your whole day cooped up in Headquarters. And what do I, _the liability_, get to do? I get to sit here and hope that you won't be back too late. I have to sit here and clean… your… stupid… socks…off the floor…" Remus took deep, wavering breaths between each word, "and there's a yellow sock that doesn't have a pair."

"Er, Remus…" Sirius had been completely thrown for a loop.

"It's been raining for the past three days. Pouring." He tried to move away from Sirius, moving as though to crawl away.

"Great—but that doesn't… Moony… Hey, don't cry. Don't cry, honey. I'm so tired—so, so tired, and I don't want to argue with you."

"You won't have to. Not now, and not ever again." Remus sounded surprisingly steady, and Sirius caught his level gaze.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm leaving."

There was dead silence in the room but for the slapping of raindrops on the windows.

"No." Sirius wasn't going to argue that point. There was simply no way he was going to let Remus leave. "No. No. No, you are not leaving. We are going to talk, and then we are going to make up, and then we're going to be okay."

But the look in Remus' eyes told Sirius he would have to fight for what he wanted. "I've gotten my things," Remus eyed the clothes that were piled around them on the floor, waving his wand to send them into a small duffel bag, "and I'm leaving."

"Why would you want to leave?" Sirius grabbed on to Remus, a tight embrace that he would never break. One hand ran through Remus' hair and came back bloody. He whispered a spell, one hand flying to his wand, and then continued, "Things are going so well!"

"You don't even look at me anymore!"

"I have work—"

"What is the point of living together if this fucking war is going to be sitting on our heads?"

"We can make it work… we can find some solutions…"

Remus tried to push Sirius away. "Find the solution to what problem? You don't even know me anymore!"

Sirius, speechless, let go of Remus, who had been wriggling in his arms up to that point. "Tell me," he heard the tone of distress in his voice, of utter fear, "what the problem is."

"I feel like a sock."

Sirius blinked, but the situation was too serious for a smile. "What?"

"A sock with no pair that has been shoved in the back of a drawer, never to be looked at again—that's what I feel like. Do you know how long it's been since we've had sex?"

Sirius, suddenly, saw the answer to his confusion. "Is this about you being horny?"

Remus looked upset. "A little," he whispered. "I just… don't feel loved anymore."

"Moony, you know I love you!"

"You never show me. I'm always cleaning, cooking—I'm a regular housewife… you probably see me as someone who cleans your underwear and folds the laundry."

"I never show you?"

Remus shook his head, eyes filling with tears and mind probably full of melancholy thoughts. He looked up to the ceiling, avoiding Sirius' eyes. He let out a deep sigh and began to play with the carpet beneath him.

Then, after a few tense seconds, he looked at Sirius, and they exchanged meaningful looks. Sirius, finally, understood what Remus wanted.

"Unpack your bag, promise me you won't ever leave me like that, and come let me show you how much I love you." Sirius grinned, finally, and topped it all off with a wink. "We will talk later, but I get the feeling that you just want somebody to pound you into the mattress. It's your lucky day."

Remus smirked in a way that made him look dangerous, almost feral. "I'll see you in bed." And then he wiped his tears away and turned to unpack his clothing.

Sirius gulped and scampered off to their bed, full to the brim with excitement and anticipation. His mind was still racing with what he planned to talk to Remus about, but promised himself that it would be saved for later. He licked his lips, burrowing under the covers and waiting with bated breath.

Merlin, it really had been too long.


End file.
